Yesterday Edwin O'Brien was elevated from Archbishop of Baltimore to Cardinal in a ceremony at the Vatican. His tenure in Baltimore was short but the impact was forceful especially in the world of Catholic Schools. His stay touched us personally at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School and so, much to our surprise, did his leaving!
We received a call last Thursday from Sean Cain, the Archdiocesan Media Director, who was in Rome for the ceremonies. He wanted to know if our students would be interested in skyping with the then Archbishop to chat about how events were going and how he was feeling at such a momentous time in his ministry. Of course, we agreed and began to select students from across the grades from kindergarten to grade twelve to represent the school. We also began to cross check equipment to be sure that we could "connect." For me, that is always the worry! I have learned over the years that you can count on students. If they know what is expected of them, they will always pull through when the pressure hits! Technology seems to be the opposite--If something can go wrong, it generally does and at the most inconvenient times!
Luck or the Lord must have been with us on Friday because our chat was as perfect as could be! Our students were great and asked some good questions, the Archbishop was in perfect form and spoke quite eloquently about his time in Baltimore and the work he tried to do, and all technology was on target. This was a great experience for our students and I know that this event will be remembered in a much more personal way because of that conversation between Rome and Middle River!
As I think of Cardinal O'Brien, though, my thoughts go not to his elevation to Cardinal but to the challenges he faced with our schools a few years ago. He arrived in Baltimore in the midst of recession with a military, "take charge and get the mission accomplished" attitude. He discovered minimal concrete plans to deal with issues and an escalating debt. He did what any military man of action would do--He took charge. He created a Schools Planning Office which did intensive information gathering and conducted countless listening sessions. He met with donors and advocates and began to carve out a plan that he beleived would allow not only survival of our schools but a renaissance for them. And then, he went to battle!
Everyone in Catholic Schools in Baltimore can still feel the sting of the decisions that flowed from the plan. Schools were closed/merged/restructured. Emotions ran high and, like it or not, change happened. Now we are a few years into the plan, still struggling with some of the phases of implementation. To be honest, I think that the jury is still out regarding the overall success of all that happened. The grand hope, of course, is that the intention comes to fruition--that the schools will thrive and continue to provide academic excellence, growth in faith, and opportunity for our students to impact their own lives and their communities in wonderful ways.
Though the final analysis will be left for those in years to come to articulate, I think it is not only fair but just to say that Cardinal O'Brien took the dilemma by the horns, fought the good fight, and forced the rest of us along for battle! In a time when inertia would have spelled our doom, he was forceful and, I think, brave. Each of us can only do what we believe we are called to do to complete the mission. Despite doubt and criticism, Cardinal O'Brien responded to the mission as he saw it and plunged forward. As he leaves Baltimore to do the work of the universal Church, we wish him well, thank him for his courage, and pray that his work yields the bounty he imagined for our children, our schools, and our Church. It seems that the work that remains is in our hands now!
God-speed Cardinal O'Brien and thank you for allowing us to touch history along with you!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
The White House and Catholic Schools
Two weeks ago I got an invitation to the White House. Of course, I was surprised and wondered what was happening to generate such an impressive social event on my calendar generally clogged with appointments with parents and alums of our school. I quickly found out that the event to which I was invited was a preliminary to Catholic Schools Week and featured a panel of Catholic School leaders who had been selected because they were perceived to be "champions of change." Honored to be included in such an illustrious group, I accepted. There followed a flurry of security checks and map questing. The day finally arrived, I found the location, made it through security, and found myself among a group of about 200 educators from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. who had been invited to hear the panel.
The panel members were diverse: a senior student highy involved with service, a Jesuit priest who helped create the Critso Rey model of secondary schools for low income students, a superintendent of an urban school district, and a principal who had developed various initiatives to increase the success rate for her multi-cultural students among a few others. Each panel member had looked at challenges with creativity and shifted the status quo. Each had taken a risk, initiated some changes in how things usually were handled, and each had succeeded.
The uniting factor that I found the most interesting and important was that every single panel member had remained true to his/her mission despite the changing strategies that were employed. In every case, success was measured by an improvement in meeting the needs of students. Whether the strategy increased the probability of a student being able to enroll in a Catholic school or increased the probaility of success while they attended, the focus remained on the child....just where it should be!
During our celebration of Catholic School Week, we often look at programs, our traditions and our history of sharing our faith, excellence in academics, and the response through service to our community. In recent years, as schools struggle with economic recession, pressure from local public school systems to focus only on testing data, and the turmoil within the Church itself, there is a temptation to lose oneself in the day to day need to survive. This year as we celebrate Catholic Schools we celebrate all the "champions of change" who recognize that, at the heart of our schools, are tenets which will never change--the value of every child and the belief that he/she can succeed in both school and life, the necessity to share an old faith with a new generation who are then inspired to serve and lead with integrity and hope, and a commitment to prepare our young people to develop a work ethic that will enable them to work toward standards of excellence in all that they do.
My trip to the White House was inspiring not because of the location but because it is always inspiring to become aware of good people doing great things for children for all the right reasons! During Catholic Schools Week, I hope you are inpsired by someone like that--our schools are filled with "champions of change" who remain committed to children, our faith, and the future.
The panel members were diverse: a senior student highy involved with service, a Jesuit priest who helped create the Critso Rey model of secondary schools for low income students, a superintendent of an urban school district, and a principal who had developed various initiatives to increase the success rate for her multi-cultural students among a few others. Each panel member had looked at challenges with creativity and shifted the status quo. Each had taken a risk, initiated some changes in how things usually were handled, and each had succeeded.
The uniting factor that I found the most interesting and important was that every single panel member had remained true to his/her mission despite the changing strategies that were employed. In every case, success was measured by an improvement in meeting the needs of students. Whether the strategy increased the probability of a student being able to enroll in a Catholic school or increased the probaility of success while they attended, the focus remained on the child....just where it should be!
During our celebration of Catholic School Week, we often look at programs, our traditions and our history of sharing our faith, excellence in academics, and the response through service to our community. In recent years, as schools struggle with economic recession, pressure from local public school systems to focus only on testing data, and the turmoil within the Church itself, there is a temptation to lose oneself in the day to day need to survive. This year as we celebrate Catholic Schools we celebrate all the "champions of change" who recognize that, at the heart of our schools, are tenets which will never change--the value of every child and the belief that he/she can succeed in both school and life, the necessity to share an old faith with a new generation who are then inspired to serve and lead with integrity and hope, and a commitment to prepare our young people to develop a work ethic that will enable them to work toward standards of excellence in all that they do.
My trip to the White House was inspiring not because of the location but because it is always inspiring to become aware of good people doing great things for children for all the right reasons! During Catholic Schools Week, I hope you are inpsired by someone like that--our schools are filled with "champions of change" who remain committed to children, our faith, and the future.
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